Hizbullah spiritual leader: Senate declared war on Iran

"The declaration of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group is a declaration of war," Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, Hizbullah's
spiritual leader, said Sunday in response to a Senate resolution on Wednesday calling on the State Department to include the dominant branch in Iran's army on its list of terrorist organization.

Blacklisted

US Senate brands Iran Guard 'terrorist organization' / AFP

Senate votes 76-22 in favor of amendment placing Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on US terrorist blacklist, a move that could lead to harsh economic sanctions on corps

"The American Senate's decision to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which are an integral part of the Iranian army, as a terrorist organization, amounts to a declaration of war and so does the Senate's daring decision to vote in favor of a resolution to divide Iraq," Fadlallah said.

"This reflects the dangerous intentions for the region and we can see it as an American move ahead of more wars in countries in the region in order to destabilize them and shake their security and politics," he added.

"He who follows America's political moves understands clearly that the Bush administration has not given up its ambition to plunge the region into war and chaos," he said. "The American Congress is pretending to be trying to change the attitude of this administration but in fact they are working together and are towing the line of the Zionist lobby to widen the scope of American aggression in the region."

"The escalation caused by the Bush administration under the banner of 'a conflict against Iran's regional hegemony,' despite the calming role played by the Iranian government in the political and religious fields and despite its willingness to sacrifice its scientific knowledge in the nuclear field to peaceful purposes, proves that the American administration wants the Arabs to enter a new arms race that serves American coffers and turns them into a tool for the American Army when Bush decides to make another stupid move in the region," Fadlallah said.